I'll cross the Atlantic holding helium balloons

Every attempt before this was geared towards this flight so, one day, we can look back and say: ‘Humankind were able to pull this off.'

Jonathan Trappe

Jonathan Trappe, 38, will attempt the record-breaking, 2,500-mile flight from Maine, US, to Paris next summer.

He already holds the world record for cluster ballooning after a 230-mile flight from England to France over the Channel.

The American pilot, right, also hopes to float at 25,000ft, beating his world altitude record of 21,600ft. Trappe, who will be carried in a seven-foot lifeboat in case the risky stunt goes wrong, said: “I didn’t wake up one day and think: ‘I’m going to fly across the Atlantic.’

“Every attempt before this was geared towards this flight so, one day, we can look back and say: ‘Humankind were able to pull this off.'”